A Eucharistic procession in the Vatican Gardens on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on June 11, 2023. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 12, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
On the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, a German bishop l… […]
Young people from around the world held hands in St. Peter’s Square during the #NotAlone human fraternity event June 10, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jun 10, 2023 / 11:43 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said in a message Saturday that others should be treated with dignity and respect, not as objects to exploit or throw away.
The pope’s speech was read aloud at a live-streamed event on human fraternity, sponsored by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, held in St. Peter’s Square June 10. Pope Francis was scheduled to attend before being hospitalized on Wednesday for an abdominal surgery.
“Even though I am unable to greet you in person, I would like to welcome and thank you wholeheartedly for coming,” Francis said in the message, read by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and president of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation.
“In the encyclical Fratelli tutti,” the pope said, “I wrote: ‘Fraternity necessarily calls for something greater, which in turn enhances freedom and equality,’ since the one who sees the other as a brother or sister sees in him or her a face, not a number.”
“The other is always ‘someone’ who has dignity and merits respect, and not ‘something’ to be used, exploited or thrown away,” he added.
The June 10 event, called “#Not Alone,” was centered on the signing of a declaration on human fraternity drafted by a dozen Nobel Peace Prize winners together with representatives of former Nobel Prize-winning organizations.
“United with Pope Francis, we want to reaffirm that ‘authentic reconciliation does not flee from conflict, but is achieved in conflict, resolving it through dialogue and open, honest and patient negotiation’ (Fratelli Tutti, n. 244). All this within the context of the human rights framework,” the declaration says.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, signed the document in Pope Francis’ place June 10.
After the signing of the document, young people representing different countries formed “a symbolic embrace” by joining hands in a ring around St. Peter’s Square.
The six-hour event included speeches, testimonies, performances by Italian music artists — including Grammy-winner Andrea Bocelli — and circus performers.
Nobel laureates in attendance included Iraqi human rights advocate Nadia Murad, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, and Yemeni Arab Spring leader Tawakkol Karman.
The former presidents of Colombia, Costa Rica, Poland, and Democratic Republic of East Timor — all peace prize winners — also participated, as well as representatives of several U.N. organizations that have been past recipients.
“In our world torn apart by violence and war, tweaks and adjustments are not enough,” Pope Francis said in his message. “Only a great spiritual and social covenant born from the heart and centered on fraternity can restore the sacredness and inviolability of human dignity as the core of relationships.”
“This does not require theories on fraternity but concrete gestures and shared decisions that make it a culture of peace,” he continued. “The question to ask ourselves is not what society and the world can give me, but what can I give to my brothers and sisters.”
“When we return home, let us think of some concrete gesture of fraternity that we can make: reconciling with family members, friends and neighbors, praying for those who hurt us, recognizing and helping those in need, speaking words of peace at school, university or in society, ‘anointing’ with closeness those who feel alone,” he said.
Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2023 / 05:05 am (CNA).
At the recommendation of his doctors, Pope Francis will not pray the Sunday Angelus in public, the Vatican said Saturday.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said at a press conference June … […]
Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 17, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jun 9, 2023 / 05:18 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is “steadily improving” two days after he underwent abdominal surgery to correct an incisional hernia, a Vatican spokesman said Friday.
According to Matteo Bruni, the pope rested during the night and on the morning of June 9 was able to eat breakfast and move from his hospital bed to an armchair.
“The medical team reports that the clinical picture is steadily improving and the post-operative progress is normal,” he said in a brief statement released shortly before 1:00 p.m. Rome time.
He added that Pope Francis was able to read the newspaper and do some work.
Francis underwent a three-hour surgery for an incisional hernia on June 7. A team of surgeons removed scar tissue and operated on a hernia in the pope’s abdominal wall at the site of a previous surgical incision.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the pope’s main surgeon, said at a press conference shortly after the operation that Francis had been experiencing increasing pain for several months due to the hernia and decided on June 6 to undergo the surgery to correct it.
The 86-year-old Francis has been hospitalized three times in the past two years.
He was hospitalized for four days in March for a lung infection and has also dealt this year with a recurrence of diverticulitis, a painful inflammation of bulges in the large intestine for which he was operated on in July 2021.
Religious leaders around the world have expressed their well-wishes and prayers for Pope Francis as he recovers in hospital.
The family of a baby baptized by the pope at the end of March sent a poster to Pope Francis.
Francis baptized Miguel Angel when he visited the pediatric oncology ward of Gemelli Hospital while he was hospitalized for a lung infection.
“We just want to thank you for blessing our brother and wish from the bottom of our hearts that you get better,” the poster said in Spanish.
The pope has also been sent a get-well card from children being treated at the Vatican-connected Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome.
A photograph shows an outside view of the Gemelli hospital in Rome on June 8, 2023, where Pope Francis has been hospitalized following an operation for an abdominal hernia on June 7. / Credit: Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images
Washi… […]
A large statue of St. John Paul II at the entrance of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is recovering from surgery he underwent on June 7, 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Jun 8, 2023 / 08:20 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is … […]
Pope Francis at his general audience in St Peter’s Square on May 31, 2023. / Adi Zace/EWTN
Rome Newsroom, Jun 8, 2023 / 05:25 am (CNA).
One day after Pope Francis’ abdominal surgery for an incisional hernia, medical staff report that the pope i… […]
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the lead surgeon for Pope Francis’ abdominal surgery, speaks at a press conference at Gemelli Hospital on June 7, 2023. / Andreas Thonhauser/EWTN
Rome Newsroom, Jun 7, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis is awake after reacting well to both surgery and general anesthetic, an Italian surgeon said Wednesday afternoon.
Pope Francis “is well, awake, alert, and already made his first joke 10 minutes ago,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri said June 7 during a brief press conference at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is recovering following abdominal surgery.
Alfieri, director of the hospital’s abdominal surgery department, is the same surgeon who removed part of Pope Francis’ colon during an operation to treat diverticulitis in July 2021.
The surgeon told journalists that from a medical point of view, there would be nothing preventing the pope from continuing with his planned travels to Portugal and Mongolia in August after his recovery.
The conditions treated by the surgery on June 7 and the prior operation of July 2021 were both benign and have been resolved, the surgeon said in response to questions.
“The pope does not have other illnesses,” he underlined.
Alfieri noted that Francis had been experiencing pain for several months due to an incisional hernia and decided June 6 to undergo the surgery to correct it.
An incisional hernia is a type of abdominal wall hernia at the site of a previous surgical incision. The surgeon said the hernia may have come about following past operations Francis underwent in Argentina, including for peritonitis, a redness or swelling of the lining of the abdomen often caused by appendicitis.
Alfieri said Francis was already cracking jokes and had asked him when the next surgery would be.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said “Pope Francis is alert and conscious and thankful for the many messages of closeness and prayer that have immediately reached him.”
Alfieri was assisted by Drs. Valerio Papa, Roberta Menghi, Antonio Tortorelli, and Giuseppe Quero. The anesthetist was Dr. Massimo Antonelli, who was assisted by Drs. Teresa Sacco, Paola Aceto, Maurizio Soave, and Giuseppina Annetta.
The head physician of the Vatican’s health and hygiene office, Dr. Luigi Carbone, was also present in the operating room.
Pope Francis left for the hospital immediately after greeting pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience June 7.
At the start of the audience, he had prayed before a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
The pope was taken to Gemelli Hospital in a white Fiat 500 with tinted windows with a police escort.
The operation took place in the early afternoon and lasted three hours, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis at his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square June 7, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Jun 7, 2023 / 10:50 am (CNA).
The Vatican said Wednesday evening that Pope Francis is out of surgery and that the abdominal operation he underwent “took place without complications.”
The 86-year-old pope will remain in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for several days to recover after the surgery, according to the Vatican’s spokesman.
In a surgery lasting three hours, Pope Francis underwent a laparotomy and abdominal wall reconstruction using prosthetic materials in the early afternoon of June 7.
The operation under general anesthesia was planned by the pope’s medical team in recent days after it became necessary due to a hernia that was causing recurrent, painful, and worsening symptoms, according to Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office.
The surgery attempted to repair an incisional hernia, a type of abdominal wall hernia at the site of a previous surgical incision. In the pope’s case, this could be the result of the scarring caused by the pope’s colon surgery in July 2021.
The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the surgeon in charge of the pope’s operation was Sergio Alfieri, the same surgeon who operated on Pope Francis in July 2021 when the pope had part of his colon removed due to diverticulitis.
Pope Francis left for the hospital immediately after greeting pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience, where the pope prayed before a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
The pope was taken to Gemelli Hospital in a white Fiat 500 with tinted windows with a police escort.
Once news of the pope’s surgery broke, people began to gather in front of the hospital where he was being treated.
“We follow him with our affection. We follow him with our prayers, hoping that everything will be resolved as soon as possible and he will return to the exercise of his ministry,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists when asked about the pope’s health.
The cardinal added that he expects that Pope Francis will continue to work from his hospital bed as he recovers.
“Even if from a hospital bed, he will resume the exercise of his ministry. So if there are things that need to be decided, urgently, they will be brought to him at the Gemelli hospital,” Parolin said, according to Sky News.
Pope Francis has been hospitalized three times in the past two years. The pope was hospitalized for four days in March for a lung infection and has also dealt this year with a recurrence of diverticulitis, a painful inflammation of bulges in the large intestine following his operation in July 2021.
Since early 2022 the pope has suffered from knee pain. He started to have difficulty standing and walking and has been using a cane and wheelchair for more than a year.
Pope Francis told the Italian bishops in May last year that he did not want to have his knee operated on because he did not want to recover from general anesthesia again following his last surgery.
An Italian diocese noted in a press release on June 7 that it had been notified by the Prefecture of the Papal Household that all of Pope Francis’ audiences, including general audiences, have been canceled until June 18 due to the pope’s surgery.
Pope Francis on the morning of June 7, 2023 shortly before heading to the hospital for abdominal surgery greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Jun 7, 2023 / 10:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis’ audiences have been canceled until June 18, an Italian Catholic diocese said Wednesday, citing the Prefecture of the Papal Household.
The communications office of the Diocese of Teramo-Atri sent a press release June 7 expressing the bishop’s closeness to Francis after the pope was hospitalized to undergo abdominal surgery Wednesday afternoon.
According to a tweet posted by Vatican News, Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni also told journalists the pope’s audiences were suspended until June 18 “as a precautionary measure.”
Catholics of the Diocese of Teramo-Atri, which is in central Italy’s Abruzzo region, were scheduled to meet Pope Francis in Rome in St. Peter’s Square on the morning of Saturday, June 17.
Bishop Lorenzo Leuzzi invited Catholics to unite in prayer for Pope Francis’ healing, especially on the solemnity of Corpus Christi, which will be celebrated on Sunday.
The Fratelli Tutti Foundation, which had organized an event with Pope Francis and Nobel laureates to take place in St. Peter’s Square on June 10, has said the gathering will go on as planned, at the pope’s request.
Pope Francis was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital shortly after 11 a.m. on June 7 for a surgery under general anesthesia, the Vatican said.
The hospitalization followed Francis’ participation in the usual Wednesday general audience, at which he venerated a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
According to spokesman Matteo Bruni, Francis on Wednesday is undergoing an operation to repair a hernia through a laparotomy and abdominal wall reconstruction with prosthetic material.
The Vatican said the 86-year-old pope would spend “several days” in the hospital post-surgery.
Pope Francis visited the same hospital Tuesday for less than an hour, the Vatican confirmed June 6, following the publication of Italian media reports.
The pope’s surgery may be to repair a hernia that formed in the scar of the incision following his colon operation in July 2021 for diverticulitis.
Francis recovered in a hospital wing reserved for papal medical emergencies for 11 days following the July 4, 2021, surgery.
It is the same medical suite at Gemelli Hospital where St. John Paul II stayed for treatment at different points in his pontificate.
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